"Of all the popular Internet applications, email is the global activity of choice," said Peter Steyn, director of the research firm. "We found that an impressive 90 percent of the adults in three major markets - Australia, the UK and the Netherlands - used email over the past six months, though the percentages were high for all 12 countries. In Hong Kong, 84 percent of those aged 16 and above have used e-mail".

"However, involvement in chat rooms was lower than 30 percent in all countries except Brazil, where 41 percent of adult Internet users used chat rooms, and in Spain where 38 percent used chat rooms. In Hong Kong, 28 percent of adults have participated in chat rooms.

Additionally, looking at audio-visual content and using Internet radio were well below 50 percent in all countries, and instant messaging has less than 30 percent penetration in several countries, including Hong Kong, France, Germany and Italy", said Steyn.

"The key to email's popularity is two-fold: it is a cost-effective way to communicate across great distances, and it does not require the same high connection speeds as some of the other applications.

In most countries, a 56k modem or slower modem is the most popular tool to access the Internet. However, in Hong Kong, an astonishing 58 percent of those who responded and have Internet access use either a cable modem or high-speed telephone connection to access the Internet. Not surprisingly, their rates for using Internet radio and looking at audio-visual content were among the highest worldwide" Steyn added. (See Table)